73. How helping others helps you
If you follow the news, each day seems to come with a fresh onslaught of bad things. It’s hard to know what to focus on—what can be done. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But there is something you can do that helps.
Data point of the week
Volunteering is correlated with increased self-esteem, decreased depression, lower overall mortality risk, increased happiness, and higher life satisfaction.
People with the lowest levels of social interaction experience the greatest benefits from volunteering. However, we all get something out of dedicating our time to a cause we care about. Volunteering is known to be at least as beneficial to the volunteer as to the recipient.
The many benefits of volunteering come from:
Increased social engagement
Contribution/making a positive impact.
Sense of meaning and purpose.
Seeing yourself in a positive light (by doing something of value, you feel more valuable).
Increased agency. Getting out of inertia and into action reduces helplessness, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety.
Reflection
When I reflect on the most meaningful, rewarding moments in my life, they’re when I’ve had a positive impact on others. Whether it’s through my work, volunteering, or personal interactions … when someone tells me that I’ve made a difference, it makes my day (sometimes my week). It feels like an injection of energy to motivate and sustain me.
That’s why I’ve decided to create my own volunteer activity, by leading a “Convo Café” at a local coffee shop or restaurant. (Kind of like a drop-in version of ProjectConnect, open to anyone). This will be a place for people to come and get to know their neighbors, make friends, and build connection through small group guided conversation. Donations will go to a local nonprofit. If you’re intrigued and/or want to do the same in your town, reach out. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Connection Skill & Action Step: Volunteer
People often worry about the time volunteering will take, but you can choose to volunteer for an hour or so a week, a half day a month, or whatever works for your schedule. To get the most benefit from volunteering:
Think about activities that you would enjoy and/or causes that you care about.
Choose activities where you’ll meet other people.
Consider volunteering with an existing friend or acquaintance. That way you can spend time together and deepen your relationship at the same time as meeting new people and giving back.
Questions to reflect on or to spark conversation. Please share your responses in the comments—we love hearing from you!
Do you do any volunteer work right now? If so, what do you do and how do you like it? If not, is there anything you’d be interested in?
Offer transportation!
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